The climate change summit switches into high gear today with the arrival of the US Vice-President, Mr Al Gore - either to help broker a deal which everybody can live with or merely to indulge in some political "optics" for the television cameras.
Mr Gore, a one-time champion of the need to take action on climate change, flew in at the weekend as the talks edged to a "dangerous precipice" - as environmentalists put it - with strong words exchanged between several of the parties. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, arrived here yesterday morning in time for a three-hour session with his EU colleagues amid signs the EU was prepared to soften its position somewhat from more ambitious targets for cuts in greenhouse gases, in an attempt to strike a deal in Kyoto. In the evening, as the bells of every Buddhist temple, Shinto shrine and Christian church in Kyoto were rung, thousands of people took part in a procession aimed at showing that ordinary Japanese citizens are also concerned about saving the global environment.
The focus of attention today is a highly contentious New Zealand proposal, supported by the US and Australia, that developing countries make some commitment to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions as part of what is already being called the "Post-Kyoto Process".
One after the other, developing countries maintained it was premature even to discuss this issue, at least until the rich industrialised nations first agreed on firm targets and timetables to reduce their much higher per capita emissions.
The US, with 5 per cent of the world's population, is responsible for 22 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Mr Gore's main problem is that the US Senate - which must ratify any new treaty - has resolved that the American delegation should not concede on cuts which could damage the US economy if there is no commitment from developing countries to act likewise.
"This entire issue is fraught with political peril," according to Ms Kathleen McGinty, the most senior environmental adviser at the White House. But she said it was very hard for the Vice-President to pass up an opportunity "to talk about it".
The stakes for Mr Gore are high because, by coming to Kyoto even for just eight hours, he risks being blamed if the summit fails to produce a meaningful agreement to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions which scientists believe are causing climate change.
The US Vice-President will address the ministerial session this morning with a speech which has apparently been rewritten at least 15 times. He will also hold talks with some of the participants including the British Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott.
Last night Mr Prescott said he would be telling Mr Gore the EU "cannot accept " a higher target for cuts in emissions than the US or Japan, Europe's main industrial competitors. "We are now in the realm of political science about how you find agreement on these matters."
The EU's Environment Commissioner, Ms Ritt Bjerregaard, said "nobody wants to water down the EU proposals" for a 15 per cent cut in emissions by 2010.
And she suggested the US "can do much better" than the zero reduction it had effectively offered.
She said it was essential for the industrialised world to come up with "ambitious targets, otherwise it would be very difficult to get voluntary commitment from the developing countries" - a point also stressed by Mr Prescott.
Whatever deal emerges from Kyoto, the European Union will have to renegotiate its burden-sharing package, which currently aims to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 15 per cent, according to Mr Prescott. With speculation now focused on a flat rate reduction of 10 per cent as a compromise between the EU, the US, Japan and other industrialised countries, Mr Prescott said last night this would inevitably entail a review of the EU package.